Say goodbye to all-glass Transbay Terminal

Here’s a surprise: The big new Transbay Terminal set to open in 2017 may be shedding its all-glass skin.

The idea is to wrap it in (supposedly) lacy aluminum instead, with a see-through pattern of cuts in the shiny metal. The change is partly for security reasons — no glass means no glass shards if something goes wrong — and partly to save an estimated $17 million.

This isn’t the first change, by the way. When the design by architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli was selected for the project in 2007, it was a spidery concoction of steel and glass. Then the steel structure moved inside, behind the drape of glass panels attached to a lean net of metal cables. Now the glass is metal.

For the record, the park on top is still intact. But if the budget continues to tighten, who knows? The mature trees dreamed of by the landscape architects might turn out to be seedlings instead.

For more images and an explanation from the architect for the change, read here.